OFC/NFOEC to Feature Expanded Data Center Programming

Data communication programs kick off with pre-show webinar on transitioning from copper to fiber

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1—The organizers of the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), taking place March 6 – 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, today announced expanded program offerings in the areas of high-speed data centers, optical internetworking and data communications for its 2011 conference and exhibition. With data rates increasing and copper nearing the end of its bandwidth limits, fiber optics is becoming more important in local area networks (LAN). Many of the top optical LAN vendors, including Cisco, Corning, Draka, HP, Juniper and IBM, will be on hand at OFC/NFOEC presenting new technologies and products. Data center and cloud computing experts from Alcatel-Lucent, Facebook, Hitachi, Google and Microsoft will cover the latest advances in these fields, while leading industry analysts will offer perspectives on the state of the data communications market.

OFC/NFOEC content in the areas of optical internetworking, data centers and data communications are highlighted below and available at www.ofcnfoec.org/datacom.

This webinar will provide an overview of data center cabling options covering copper structured, copper interconnect and fiber cabling as well as a cost analysis of copper versus fiber.

Registration is available on the OFC/NFOEC website. The webinar will be archived and available for download after Feb. 2 at www.ofcnfoec.org/datacom.

ON-SITE

·Short Courses

oData Center Cabling – Transitioning from Copper to Fiber taught by Huff, a Certified Data Center Professional with more than 25 years experience in the industry. This is a half-day course that builds on the information presented in the free webinar listed above, providing more in-depth material.

oData Center Networking 101 taught by Cedric Lam and Hong Liu of Google. This course covers both intra-datacenter and inter-datacenter networks, the challenges facing datacenter operators in the next three to four years, the need for energy-efficient datacenter networking technologies, and the desirable optical networking technologies to sustain the growth of Internet computing applications.

Exhibit Floor Programming

oMarket Watch – This three-day series of panel sessions engages the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications. This year, Market Watch, features a panel discussion onData Center: Traffic and Technology Driverswith speakers from Cisco, Juniper Networks, Facebook, Huawei Symantec and Brocade.

oEthernet Alliance Program – This program features a panel on New Storage Technologies for Greater IT Efficiency and Flexibility. Virtualization is increasing the requirement and opportunity to share more of the data center infrastructure. Enhancements to Ethernet enable the converging of FC SANs to a common network technology with Data Center Bridging (DCB). Combined with storage virtualization, virtualization and enhanced Ethernet deliver new opportunities for increased efficiency and flexibility to address today's and tomorrow's IT challenges. The program features speakers from Cisco Systems, CommScope, Spirent, Intel Corp., NetApp, Brocade and Opnext.

oOptical Business Forum – More than ever, the pace of business has accelerated requiring enterprise operations to significantly increase the speed – and capacity – of transactions in order to succeed and keep pace with the needs of customers. This forum will cover the latest advances in optical business service, including data center connectivity.

Exhibit Hall

The OFC/NFOEC Exhibit Hall features more than 500 companies, including familiar data communications vendors like Avago Technologies, CommScope, Corning, Juniper, OPS, The Siemon Company and others.

Plenary Session

One of three dynamic speakers for the show’s most well-attended event, Alan Gara, IBM Fellow and Blue Gene Architect at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center will discuss Supercomputing's Symbiotic Relationship with Advanced Optics at the OFC/NFOEC Plenary Session.

This symposium focuses on the components and architectures that will enable the deployment of massive optical networks underpinning next-generation Exa-scale computers and highly interconnected data centers.

oResearch Presentations

OFC/NFOEC features a variety of technical presentations covering optical networking and data communications. Topics covered will include optical interconnects, cloud computing, optical network deployment and more. A sampling of these presentations includes:

Full conference program with abstracts is available at http://www.ofcnfoec.org/home/Program.aspx.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Analysts and members of the press who wish to attend OFC/NFOEC 2011 should register on the OFC/NFOEC website, or contact Lyndsay Meyer, 202.416.1435 or lmeyer@osa.org.

ABOUT OFC/NFOEC
For more than 35 years, the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) has been the premier destination for converging breakthrough research and innovation in telecommunications, optical networking and, recently, datacom and computing. Uniting service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses and component manufacturers, along with researchers, engineers and development teams, OFC/NFOEC combines dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 500 companies and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research into one event that showcases the trends and pulse of the entire optical communications industry.

OFC/NFOEC is managed by the Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the IEEE Photonics Society. Acting as a non-financial technical co-sponsor is Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Visit www.ofcnfoec.org.